i'm not a good person to ask for advice, but this site seems pretty legit: https://linuxvox.com/blog/switching-to-linux/

i use pop_os! which is a fork from ubuntu. i still know next to nothing about doing anything with the linux command line, but have gotten along fine with just gui--a lot of softwares provide the command to install things on their download page and you just paste it into the terminal

steam works pretty much flawlessly, other game stores less flawlessly (you use a launcher like heroic or lutris for non-steam)

so far in a year and a half there's only one thing i haven't been able to do, which is use garmin's gps software to update my maps. not going back to windows for that

Get yourself to https://omgubuntu.co.uk/ and check out the offerings. The apps there work on most/all distros, but are best presented and curated on that website.

Really depends on what you use daily. Most distros are going to already have drop in replacements for stuff like playing video. Otherwise the same software works, like VLC.

It's when you get to speciality stuff like video editing, instructional or graphic design, some engineering software, etc that you have to actively look for things that have features you need.

That will happen. And for the few who didn’t stay with it, it was because they felt improper calling me for support. I think it’s best to let them try for a while first.

But as a counterpoint, I put my parents on Ubuntu LTS after constant tech support queries for Windows. The calls went from once per month to once per year.

Also, it’s much easier to provide tech support for Ubuntu than Windows IMO.